Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed his Belgian counterpart Bart De Wever over Belgium’s recently announced plans to recognize Palestine.
Belgium’s Foreign Minister Maxime Prévot announced this week Brussels will recognize the state of Palestine at the U.N. General Assembly and impose “firm sanctions” on Israel over its war in Gaza.
The planned recognition, which came after intensive negotiations between Belgium’s governing parties, is predicated on Hamas releasing all remaining Israeli hostages kidnapped in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack and the militant group relinquishing power in the besieged enclave.
“Belgian Prime Minister de Wever is a weak leader who seeks to appease Islamic terrorism by sacrificing Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement Wednesday on social media.
“He wants to feed the terrorist crocodile before it devours Belgium. Israel will won’t [sic] go along and will continue to defend itself,” Netanyahu’s office added.
Belgium joins a string of Western countries that have announced their intent to recognize Palestine at the U.N. meeting to be held from Sept. 9 to 23 in New York since French President Emmanuel Macron declared in July that France would do so.
Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for suspected crimes against humanity, repeatedly attacked Macron for that move, accusing him of rewarding Hamas and fueling antisemitism.
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